Many different types of refuse compaction means have been proposed. Some such proposals utilize air pressure to move a compaction member, such as a piston, through a compaction stroke to compact refuse material placed in a compaction space within the compaction means. Typical examples of such compaction means are those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,899,967 and 4,070,962 where atmospheric pressure is used to drive a compaction member through a compaction stroke. More particularly an air pressure differential created across the compaction member by evacuating air from the compaction space, is used to drive the compaction member through the compaction stroke.
These prior art devices suffer from several deficiencies. One such deficiency is that the direction of the compaction stroke of the compaction member is not in a direction towards an access opening in the compaction space through which refuse material may be introduced into, and compacted refuse material may be removed from, the compaction space. As a consequence of this, the refuse material after compaction is remote from the opening and may be difficult to remove from the compaction space. Additionally, the compaction member cannot be utilized to urge the compacted material from the compaction space.
A further deficiency of the aforementioned prior art compaction means is that air evacuated from the compaction space is discharged to atmosphere and obnoxious odors may be discharged with the air.
A still further deficiency of the aforementioned prior art compaction means is the difficulty in closing the access opening in a convenient manner and in a manner which provides an effective seal.